Day 1:

On Thursday 3^rd April, 41 students and 4 staff headed off to Munich on a Football tour. Students ranged from Year 8-11, both boys and girls. It was a ridiculously early start with everyone meeting at 3:15am in the school car park!

We made it to the airport in great time, which ended up being a good thing as it took us over an hour to get checked in at Heathrow. There wasn’t much time for any shopping in duty free before we got on the flight which disappointed some of the boys!

Once we landed, we met our tour guide called Rick who was with us the whole trip and headed to the Bayern Munich Academy training ground, where we had lunch and the students got given their Bayern Munich training kit. The students had their first 90 minute coaching session with the academy coaches which was brilliant, a real high standard of training and coaching.

We then got changed and went to the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich play, for a behind the scenes tour, which was unbelievable. We got to walk down through the tunnel and up to the pitch with the Champions League theme tune playing – a real highlight!

We went to the museum which had lots of exhibitions and trophies on display that Bayern Munich had won. There was a club shop at the end of the museum, where a lot of pocket money was spent on different shirts, balls and other bits of memorabilia! Finally it was back to the hotel to check-in, have dinner and an early night after a jam-packed day.

 

Day 2:

We got up for breakfast, before going back to the academy training ground for our next 90 minute coaching session. Another great session with the coaches where improvements were already being seen across the group.

Lunch was provided for us at the training ground again, before going to the SoccArena Olympia Park where we had hired out 3 indoor 5-a-side pitches and hosted our own mini-tournament. The weather was amazing whilst we were out there, especially on this day so playing indoors was extremely tough!

After a quick trip back to the hotel for a shower and to collect our packed dinners we headed to to Buchbach to watch Bayern Munich U23s. Sadly, the game didn’t end with Bayern Munich winning but we got to see some talented and potential first teamers in the future play.

Day 3:

This was an early start with breakfast at 7am, as we were off to the Bayern Munich training ground, where the first team would potentially be training. We had our 3^rd coaching session, before going back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch, we went to a huge bowling alley that had bowling, mini-golf, arcade and pool tables – we booked bowling and mini-golf. A few of the year 11s had to join in with the staff bowling lane to make the numbers fair, with our names on the screen being that of our favourite footballer. Kevin Doyle was the winning name on the staff lane – we will let you figure out what staff member won! It was then back to the hotel for dinner and another early night.

 

Day 4:

The biggest day of the tour was finally here, fixture day at the Bayern Munich training ground! We had an U14 girls team, a U15 boys and U16 boys team so 3 fixtures back to back where the other 2 teams could watch the team playing.

We played the games on the pitch next to where the first team were training but unfortunately, they put shutters all around the training pitch so we couldn’t see them train. We did get a wave from Vincent Kompany afterwards though which was pretty special!

Our girls played first against FC Interculturale, winning 2-1 thanks to a last minute winner from Alice and a great strike from Freya. The girls played brilliantly, coming back from being 1-0 down and having a very depleted squad after a few injuries!

The U15 boys team played next, against another side from FC Interculturale, narrowly losing 3-2 after a brace from Omar. The boys were extremely unlucky not to get a result as they played so well, against a really good side.

Finally, the U16 boys played a very, very talented FC Interculturale side with academy players. They gave a brilliant account of themselves, with the scoreline not being a true reflection of the game. Eli had put us 1-0 up and Jacob scored 2 penalties to bring us back within range but the boys ran out of steam towards the end, ending up on the losing side. But again, the boys were fantastic and a real credit to themselves and the school.

We then had another busy evening as we had tickets to see Bayern Munich Basketball at the BMW Park. Very kindly, one of the students’ parents managed to organise us a last minute behind the scenes tour of the stadium, with students and staff getting to see in the changing rooms, media room and go court side! A great evening was had by everyone and to make it even better, Bayern Munich won.

 

Day 5:

The last day of the tour was here, so room inspections were carried out before checking out. There were many lost room keys but all good other than that! We then went to our last training session back at the first team training ground. We were desperately hoping to see the first team train or get a glimpse of some of the players but were told they wouldn’t be training until the afternoon which we were gutted about.

However, as we were heading in, Kingsley Coman was doing some individual training on the pitch in front of us and he gave us a wave as we watched. We then saw Serge Gnabry driving in and Mr Fry got a thumbs up from Thomas Muller! Rick, our tour guide, had kindly found us an Italian restaurant to go to for lunch where everyone had something to eat before going to the airport.

Just before going to the airport, we handed out our tour awards for each team which are at the end. Our flight back was super quick and we got back to school at about 10pm! All students and staff were extremely tired but had the best time away – the students were a real credit to the school and performed impeccably across the tour. A huge thank you to Miss Ostinelli, Mr Fry and Mr Bandy for coming on the tour and giving up their time.

Tour awards:

U14 Girls

Person of the tour: Alice

Funniest moment of the tour: Freya

Player of the tour: Anna

U15 Boys

Person of the tour: Danny

Funniest moment of the tour: Abubakar

Player of the tour: James

U16 Boys

Person of the tour: Charlie

Funniest moment of the tour: Josh

Player of the tour: Jacob

 

Here are the results from the Netball League. A huge well done to every player and member of staff that supported the netball this season. To finish in the top 3 in all years A and B except one is a fantastic achievement. Well done St Bart’s.

Year 7 Super League           Year 7 Premier League               

1^st – Park House              1^st – Kennet B

2^nd – St Bart’s A               2nd – Theale

3^rd – Kennet A                3^rd – St Bart’s B

 

Year 8 Super league          Yr 8 Premier League

1^st – St Bart’s A               1st – St Bart’s B

2^nd – St Gabriel’s A           2nd – Kennet B

3^rd – Park House              3^rd – Theale

 

Year 9 Super League         Year 9 Premier League

1^st – St Bart’s A               1st – Kennet B

2^nd – Park House A             2^nd – Park House B

3^rd – The Downs A              3^rd – St Bart’s B

 

Year 10 Super League         Year 10 Premier League

1^st – St Bart’s A                1^st – Trinity

2^nd – Theale                  2^nd  – St Bart’s B

3^rd – Willink                  3rd – The Downs

 

Year 11 Super League         Year 11 Premier League

1^st – Kennet A                1^st – Theale

2^nd – St Bart’s A               2^nd – Park House B

3^rd – Park House A             3^rd – Kennet B

 

Sixth Form League

1^st – St Bart’s B

2^nd – Park House & St Bart’s A

 

The Year 11 Boys football team played their final league fixture this afternoon against Trinity School. It was a game of two halves with Trinity going into half time 2-0 up. A resilient St Bart’s side managed to score 4 goals in the second half to win the match 4-3. Goals were scored by Eddie (x2), Kobi and Connor. Player of the match was awarded to Connor for his composure on the ball and for his wonder strike from outside the area. Well done to everyone involved as it was a brilliant second half performance.